Bigotry Determined Webster’s New
World Dictionary defines “bigot” as “a person who holds blindly and
intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.” and “bigotry” as “the
behavior, attitude, or beliefs of a bigot.”

Police State Thomas Kachadurian’s column might get the facts right but misses the story.

Oppose The Shell Game Is this a
Shell Game? As a Democrat, I support increased taxes on motor fuels and
vehicles to provide funding for our transportation infrastructure.

Sugars On The Way Senator Patrick
Colbeck from Canton introduced a bill and the Senate passed it allowing
schools and Girl & Boy Scout troops to have up to 3 bake sales per
week.

Rare Earths Our technological vulnerability

Rare Earths: Our technological vulnerabilityRemember this poem from your school days? For the want of a nail, a shoewas lost/ For the want of a shoe, a horse was lost/ For the want of ahorse, a rider was lost/ For the want of a rider, a message was lost/ Forthe want of a message, a battle was lost/ For the want of a battle, acountry was lost/ For the want of a nail.This situation has been repeated again and again and is still happening.In World War II with the German steel factories turning out weapons forthe Nazi forces, an insurance specialist was called in by the Allies toidentify the weak link in the German military production. The simplesolution was this: German steel manufacturing demanded sulfuric acid. Thesource was a single plant in southern Germany and the acid was produced inceramic vats. All that was needed was for a spy saboteur to take a hammerto the acid vats and break them. This was done and German steel productionwas set back for months until new ceramic vats could be made.During the Vietnam War when the primary infantry weapon was the M16 rifle,the ammunition was produced in one factory in East Alton, Illinois. As thestory goes, one day a carpenter moved an electricians cable. Carpenterswerent supposed to touch electricians stuff, and there was a strike thatshut down the production of the M16 ammunition. In a short time the troopsin Vietnam were running out of ammunition, and the government had to seethat a couple more factories were contracted to make more ammunition, evenafter the strike ended, all because of a minor labor dispute.I learned that only one company in the country made brushes for electricmotors, If they went out of production that would stop all companies frombuilding electric motors.

JAPAN & PAINTToday, because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a key ingredientfor U.S. auto production is no longer available. It is pigment for thepaint used in auto production. That is the weak link.More sinister is this one: five state-of-the art foundries were built inMichigan for the manufacture of windmills to generate electricity. You mayhave seen some of those massive constructions. They are as tall as 300feet, like a 30-story building, but the key part is the generator thatmakes the electricity. Its a small unit, but the construction of thegenerators requires rare earth.Rare earths are mineral substances that are hard to find with names likeYttrium, Praseodymium, Samerium, Europium, Erbium and Promethium. Manyare used for the construction of lasers (Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium,Ytterbium, etc.). Need a nuclear battery? Then youll need the rareearth Promethium to build one. Aerospace aluminum, rare earth magnets,vanadium steel and many other technologically-advanced materials andproducts all rely on rare earths (ie., Scandium Dysprosium, Erbium).In the case of Michigans windmill generators, the one mine in Americathat produced the rare earth needed for a key part was closed because aChinese source was more plentiful. Ah, but the Chinese also buildwindmills and they have announced that they are curtailing export of theessential rare earths. As a result, the five Michigan foundries are closeddown, and China is on the way to cornering the world windmill production.

THE HELIUM MARKET The United States did something similar to Germans in the days of theHindenberg and other lighter-than-air ships of the 1930s. The U.S. isthe worlds source for helium and would not sell it to thetechnologically-advanced Germans, so they were forced to substituteflammable hydrogen for their dirigibles. Result: poof! The fiery crashof the Hindenberg at Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937 was the death knellfor airships. That was in spite of a flawless record of the GrafZeppelin in making more than 70 trips from Germany to South America. The future of an industry -- even of a country -- can depend on asingle vulnerable element, even if it is as simple as a horseshoe nail.For the want of a nail.

Visit the web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs where you can listen to twostories, read a third, read reviews, and find links to the publishers ofmy books.